Indigofera spinosa Forssk.
Eng.: Spiny indigo. Spa.: Índigo espinoso. Fre.: Indigotier épineux. Ara.: Singeit.
Subshrub, up to 30-60 cm in height, hermaphrodite, spiny, with highly branched and intricate stems (that often form impenetrable globular masses), covered with whitish dense hairs. Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, with subulate stipules 1.5-2.5 mm, with petiole 1-3 mm and with 3-5(7) leaflets, 2-6 × 2-3 mm, elliptic or obovate-cuneate, mucronate, covered by rigid trichomes. Inflorescences 0.8-2.5 cm, with a glasbrescent axis that is spiny at the end, on which 2-4 subsessile flowers are arranged, with minute and caducous bracteoles. Calyx c. 2 mm, with 1 mm teeth. Corolla c. 5 mm, papilionoid, pinkish or purple, with standard pubescent on the outside. Andoercium monadelphous. Pod 1-2 × 0.2 cm, straight, not lomentaceous, covered in rigid hairs, with 6-9 seeds.
Flowering:
No data for this region
Fruiting:
No data for this region
Habitat:
Stony desert hills and fields.
Distribution:
Eastern tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. In North Africa in eastern Egypt and Sudan.
Observations:
A similar species, also thorny but of smaller size, is I. spiniflora Boiss. [I. spinosa Forssk. var. spiniflora (Boiss.) Schweinf.] (Ara.: Shangeed, singeit). Subshrub 20-50 cm in height, stems ascending or prostrate, covered by an applied tomentum giving it a silvery tone. Leaves alternate, trifoliolate, with petiole 2-8 mm and leaflets 0.4-1.2 × 0.2-0.4 cm, from obovate-cuneate to oblong-elliptic, with a rounded apex and a prominent midrib on the underside, with applied hairs on both sides. Inflorescences in racemes 2-4 cm, ending in a weak spine, with (5)10-20 pedicellate flowers, pedicels c. 1 mm, curved at the end. Calyx c. 2 mm, with teeth longer than the tube. Corolla papilionoid, red, with hairy standard on the outside. Androecium monadelphous. Pod 1-1.2 × 0.2 cm, lomentaceous, reflexed, with silvery pubescence and 4-6 seeds. It grows in sandy plains of eastern tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, in North Africa in eastern Egypt and Sudan.
Conservation status:
Relatively common and widely distributed species are not considered threatened. Currently, they has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) I. spiniflora is listed as “Rare”.